Couple Gives $6.5 Million To Uf Accounting School

December 1, 1985|By United Press International

GAINESVILLE — A University of Florida graduate and his wife have donated $6.5 million to the university's School of Accounting, the largest private donation ever made to a state university in Florida, Gov. Bob Graham announced Saturday.

The gift was made by Fred E. and Patricia Fisher, Graham told about 80 legislators meeting at the university's Health Science Center.

Fisher graduated with honors in 1959 and was a partner until 1968 in the Clearwater accounting firm Fisher, Morrison & Company. He later was vice- chairman and chief financial officer of U.S. Home Corp. and chairman and chief executive officer of the U.S. Capital Corp.

Mrs. Fisher was active in the Florida real estate industry from 1963 until 1971. An alumna of the University of Arkansas, she was formerly employed by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

''Pat and I are longtime supporters of education and of this university,'' Fisher said. ''We hope this is just a beginning for continued support. Each of us has the opportunity to participate.''

The gift will provide a perpetual endowment for the School of Accounting and a portion will be used to fund an Eminent Scholar chair, university officials said.

University President Marshall Criser said the accounting school will be named in honor of the Fishers.

''When the University of Florida's accounting program was ranked best in the nation last year in a survey of managing partners in the Big Eight accounting firms, we viewed it as a major external recognition of the quality of our School of Accounting,'' Criser said. ''The Fishers' gift adds yet another dimension to recognition of our efforts.''

The donation brings the total endowments made to the University of Florida to $131.5 million, Al Alsobrook, vice president for government and university relations said.

In his address, Graham told legislators that support of the state's universities must be a joint effort between public and private philanthropy.

The governor and the lawmakers were participating in the first legislative weekend jointly sponsored by UF and Florida State University. The meeting coincided with the annual football game between the two rivals.